Role Reversal (PreSerum Steve)
by Charizuu
Summary: Just a little story where Bucky falls ill and Steve has to take care of him. PreSerum!Steve. Sick!Bucky. Enjoy. Rated T for mild cursing. You have been warned. Stucky if you squint. Up to you.


**A/N: Okay so I haven't written in a LONG time and I also haven't had anyone other than my friend read anything I've written, but I'm open to any critics you guys might have. Is that the right word? Critics? Idk.**

 **Um so this is a one I wrote a while back, tell me what you guys think.  
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It was very late at night when Bucky trudged into Steve's apartment, with the money to help Steve pay rent because Steve couldn't hold a job long enough to earn any decent earnings. Steve was surprised to see his best friend so late at night.

"Bucky? What are you doing here?"

Bucky just shot him a tired grin, holding out a thick white envelope. He looked worse for wear but Steve didn't say anything, in fear that Bucky would lash out on him.

Of course he knew that Bucky would never ever do that but a tired Bucky was an irritable Bucky and an irritable Bucky was an unpredictable Bucky, as in sometimes Steve never knew what his friend was thinking when he was unpredictable. That's why-it's called unpredictable. Ahem; sorry.

"Your rent. It's due tomorrow right?" At Steve's nod he shoved the envelope into Steve's chest. "Here. For the month."

Steve gingerly touched the envelope before pushing it back towards Bucky. "I can't accept this Buck, you paid last month's too. I told you I can handle myself."

Bucky pushed the envelope back. "And I told you, I'll be there for you. Til the end of the line pal."

Steve sighed and took the envelope. "Thanks Buck."

Bucky nodded in response before turning to walk away.

"Wait Bucky." Steve started, remembering that Bucky looked a little out of it earlier. "Did you want to crash here tonight? You look awfully tired."

Bucky waved him off. "I'll be fine. Don't worry 'bout it." And then he was gone, before Steve could stop him. He knew something was wrong, he could feel it.

So when there was a knock on his door the next day, and he answered it to reveal a very frazzled looking neighbor, he knew his suspicions were correct.

"His boss called to tell you that he collapsed over at work today."

His neighbor was the one with a working phone that Steve used sometimes. She was listed as an emergency contact specifically so she could replay the message into Steve. It's never happened before, which explains why she looked so frazzled.

The words hit Steve like a brick but he knew somehow this was going to happen. "Thanks Helen." He said, snapping out of his thoughts and grabbing his coat, before pausing and grabbing a scarf. It was bound to be cold outside and Steve couldn't risk getting himself sick too.

Unfortunately, he didn't have the luxury of having a car so he had to walk all way down to the pier where Bucky worked. It took roughly 15 minutes for him to walk all the way down there, all the while racking his brain for a solution to get him back home.

Probably his home because he still had some soup and medicine from when he was sick.

"Where's Bucky?" He asked one of the burly looking guys as soon as he got to the pier.

He pointed over to a small hut along the edge of the pier that served as a break house for the workers.

He made his way in and opened the door, before being greeted by two very taller looking fellas. One of them stepped forward. "You Steve?"

Steve gulped and nodding, craning his head to look up at him.

"You're the one on his emergency contact list?"

"Yes sir."

The man looked at him, before shaking his head, muttering something along the lines of 'kid's so scrawny'

Nothing he hasn't heard before.

He finally landed his eyes on Bucky behind them. He had looked like he hadn't been touched. From where he was standing he noticed Bucky shivering, and he didn't know if it was from the sickness or the fact that it was cold outside.

"We don't have any medical things here." The other guy spoke, voice a little deeper, but a little kinder.

"I have some at my place."

"Got a car?"

Steve gulped. "No sir."

"How're you gonna get him over there, son?"

"I..haven't thought of it sir."

The man sighed, before looking over at the shivering Bucky. Steve's chest hurt looking at him like that. He couldn't remember the last time Bucky was sick.

"Come on, I'll give you a ride."

Steve looked up, shocked. "Really?"

The man rolled his eyes. "Yeah," he looked over at Bucky. "Kid's a hard worker. He's got heart, more than I've seen from any of the workers here." Steve guessed that this was probably the boss.

"Thank you sir." Steve breathed.

The man lifted Bucky off the makeshift bed they had him on and carried him towards his car. Steve followed, resisting the urge to laugh at the fact that Bucky looked ridiculous being carried like that.

He made a mental note to tell him when he got better. It would serve nicely as a laugh.

Bucky was still out cold when they got back to Steve's place. His boss, Vic, was skeptical about leaving his best employee in some tiny man's hands, but Steve insisted that he had got it taken care off. After some consideration Vic finally left, but not without leaving his phone number if Steve needed any help. Steve didn't have a phone, so he would have to run two floors down to use his neighbors. He thanked him nonetheless.

Bucky didn't look too bad, Steve thought. He was only shivering, and-

Okay wait, he's gotten sick so many times he should at least know how to take care of a sick person. First thing was to lower his temperature.

Running to the bathroom, Steve dipped a small cloth underneath running water until it was nice and damp. He squeezed the excess water before going over and putting it on Bucky's forehead.

A small sigh was heard, which indicated that the cloth helped a little.

Steve racked his brain for what to do next. He didn't remember much, only that there was a lot of headaches, and puking.

He looked over at Bucky before sighing. He seemed fine for now, he went over to remove his shoes instead. "Stupid.." He muttered, tossing the boots on the floor against the wall. He had knew Bucky didn't look so good. But he shouldn't blame himself for letting Bucky go off to work like that. Right now he had to focus of helping him get better.

After about an hour, Steve got worried, Bucky hadn't moved from his spot on the bed. Maybe he was just over reacting but-

Picking up the towel from his forehead, Steve looked over at him and bit his lower lip. He didn't know if he should wake him up or not.

Deciding that if Bucky didn't budge in the next half hour, he would try to wake him up. Steve was in the bathroom, running the cloth under running water, when he heard a groan coming from the bedroom.

Steve ran back, placing the cloth on Bucky's forehead, before trying to calm the older one down, Bucky's current condition sending waves of confusion throughout his brain.

"Where am I? Steve..?" He muttered, titling his head to look up at him. "What happened?"

"You collapsed Buck." Steve said, in all seriousness. He didn't want to be angry at his friend, but he was. Because he was worried. "You told me you were fine."

Bucky looked instantly guilty, his lips pursed in a tight line. "I didn't mean to."

Steve lightened his glare. "I know, it's just-"

"You know we need the money Steve." Bucky interrupted before Steve could say anything else.

"I can get by on my own Bucky." Steve sighed.

"You can't even hold a job Steve, nobody's gonna hire someone like you." It came out unexpectedly, Bucky's voice straining as it took an unexpected raise of voice.

Steve flinched a bit, taken aback at the sudden comment.

Bucky looked as shocked as Steve did. He didn't mean it like that, he was just so exhausted and he wasn't thinking clearly. "Shit." He muttered, pushing himself up. "Steve I'm so-"

"Don't. Just get better, okay? We'll talk about this later." He picked up the notepad he was sketching on and headed towards the door. "Just get some rest, alright? I'll check back on you later, night. " He sent a small smile over to his friend.

Bucky fell back onto the pillows, hands running over his face. He wasn't going to sleep any time soon.

Steve returned about an hour later, bowl of soup in his hands. He figured that Bucky was well enough to handle some soup, he didn't seem too bad earlier.

"What are you doing up?" Steve seemed surprised, he thought he would be asleep by now.

"Couldn't sleep." Bucky muttered, shrugging. Steve noticed that he didn't look at him. He hated this tension.

"Buck." He said, setting the soup down next to him. He paused, not really sure what do to say. "I'm not mad if that's what you're thinking."

Bucky studied him, before shaking his head, looking down at the blankets. "Shouldn'tve said it in the first place. I didn't mean it." Steve placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, okay? I forgive you. Can we move past this?"

Bucky sighed in response. "Yeah okay." Steve always had a big heart. Bucky couldn't forgive himself for lashing out at his best friend like that. But if Steve was willing to move past it, guess so could he.

"Good, made you some soup. You should have some before you sleep."

Bucky wasn't hungry, but he felt obligated to accept the food, because Steve made it for him. So he accepted and started eating very slowly.

In all honestly, Steve couldn't wait for Bucky to get better. Not because he didnt want to take care of him, Steve was happy to be able to help for once. Bucky was very-timid when he was ill. It unnerved Steve because he wasn't used to this side of him. He wasn't usually sick, even as kids.

Bucky ended up only eating about a quarter of the soup, a quarter less than Steve thought he would eat. Steve urged him to eat more but Bucky pushed the bowl away, shaking his head and claiming that he was full.

"Just lemme rest, I'll be all better tomorrow," he had said with a short laugh, before he let his head drop on the pillow.

With that, Steve concluded that he did pretty well taking care of an sick Bucky. There were some ups and downs but Steve went to bed proud that he had nursed his friend back to health.

It was a good day.

Until.

Steve woke up 4 hours later hearing horrible retching noises coming from the bathroom, and then the sound of something hitting the edge of the sink.

Steve scrambled off the couch and ran towards the bathroom. There he found Bucky on the floor, either trembling or shivering, he couldn't tell.

"Bucky, Bucky, wake up." He said, attempting to keep his voice under control. It was hard when he saw Bucky like this. He rolled Bucky over on his back, gasping slightly when he saw blood trickling down from a cut on his forehead. He reached for the toilet paper, pressing some to his cut. He slapped his cheek lightly in an attempt to wake him up. He didn't like how unbelievably warm he felt.

Bucky stifled a groan, eyelids fluttering open. They squinted at the harsh light, but then focused on the figure in front of that light.

"Steve?"

Steve let out a sigh. "Yeah pal, it's me. How're you holding up?"

Bucky shut his eyes for a second before opening them again, blinking slowly. "..it hurts.." He muttered, voice threatening to give out.

"What hurts Buck?"

"Everything.."

Steve decided it was best to get Bucky back to bed. Looping his arms underneath Bucky, Steve used all his strength to pull him off the ground. Bucky groaned in response, slipping in and out of consciousness.

"Buck, I hate to wake you, but I need your help here."

Bucky seemed to hear his pleas. Steve couldn't exactly carry his dead weight around. They ended up back on the floor, Steve trying to carry him a second time. Bucky flailed a bit, in an attempt to get himself loose. Somehow, Bucky had turned on his stomach, pushing himself up on his hands and knees. He paused, catching his breath before using the sink to pull himself up. Steve helped him back to the bedroom from there.

The towel was on the floor, dropped from when Bucky probably ran to the bathroom. Steve left Bucky in bed as he went back to go clean the bathroom. He flushed the bile that was in the toilet down and cleaned the-he cringed-blood that was on the floor. Then he grabbed the first aid hit and went back to the bedroom.

Bucky had passed out during the time he was in the bathroom, so Steve worked quickly tend to the wound. He was grateful that it wasn't that big. After he had placed the damp towel on his forehead again, he sat back with a sigh.

This was gonna be a long night.

The coughing started to worsen around 1AM, an hour after Bucky had emptied all of s stomachs contents into the toilet. Steve had never seen so much symptoms come all at once, he was worried that after all this time Bucky showed to signs of getting better.

The constant coughing kept him awake, so Steve used this opportunity to change Bucky into a new set of clothes. He had still been wearing the clothes he wore to work.

Bucky took a shuddering breath, turning his head so the towel would fall off his forehead. "How long have I been out?"

Steve blinked, he had asked the question two times before, he feared that the fever might of been affecting his mind. "About six hours Buck." Steve answered again, a sad smile on his face.

He went to the bathroom and ran the towel under the water again. When Bucky's coughing became worse, Steve ran to the kitchen to fetch him a glass of water. Bucky fell back on the pillows with a groan.

"I hate this.." He muttered, throwing an arm over his eyes.

"I know." Steve replied with a sigh. "You'll get better in no time." He went over to the kitchen and returned with some more water. "Here, drink some more."

Bucky made a face. "Don't think I can hold anymore.."

Steve frowned. Bucky needed something in his stomach, especially since he threw up everything he had. But nonetheless he set the glass down. "Later then."

He looked over at Bucky to find him looking at him.

"What?"

"...Thanks Steve." He muttered, avoiding his gaze. Steve looked at him. Bucky wasn't one to show his emotions. Or show gratitude.

"Anything for you Buck."

Bucky didn't say anything else, because he looked like he was going to finally go back to sleep again. Steve was very careful not to wake him.

It was three AM when Steve woke to screaming form the bed. Bucky was having a nightmare!

He flung himself at him in an attempt to calm him down. It was awak fully hard considering the fact that Bucky was much stronger than he was.

"Buck stop!" Steve growled, grasping his wrists and pulling them down. Bucky's eyes flew open and his chest heaved, eyes roaming everywhere until they landed on Steve.

"Steve?" He gasped out, confused as to why Steve was on him.

Steve let out a cough, catching his breath before sliding off of him. "You were having a nightmare." He explained, taking a few deep breaths.

Bucky forced himself to sit up, looking over at Steve before rubbing his head. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize." Steve replied, taking a seat in the chair next to the bed.

Silence.

"You should get more sleep." Steve spoke up, pushing Bucky back down on the sheets.

"Have you been awake?" Bucky asked, feeling extremely exhausted all of a sudden.

Steve shook his head. "I've been asleep."

"What time is it?"

"Three in the morning.."

Bucky hadn't heard the rest of the sentence, he had fallen asleep, too exhausted to stay awake.

Bucky woke up to coughing the next morning. But it wasn't him.

"Steve?" He croaked out, wincing as his throat hurt to talk.

Steve appeared from the doorway, a bowl in hand. "Glad to see you're up." He sent a smile in Bucky's direction.

Bucky nodded slightly, looking over at him. "What time is it?"

"Around 7. Made you some breakfast. Think you can hold it down?"

Bucky felt slightly better than the night before, and he was thankful for that. Steve pressed his hand against Bucky's forehead.

"Still a little warm." He placed the soup next to Bucky and picked up the towel, going to the bathroom to dampen it again.

Bucky could of sworn he heard coughing from the bathroom.

Steve came back and placed the towel on his head. He raised his eyebrow at the weird look Bucky was giving him. He didn't know what he was doing when Bucky raised his arm up to his face.

"What are you doing?"

Steve was short enough for Bucky to reach Steve's forehead without getting up. He didn't flinch when Bucky felt his forehead because he knew that he had been found out.

Bucky frowned. "You're sick." His head dropped from Steve's forehead.

Steve let out a sigh that he didn't realize he had been holding. "I'm fine."

"I got you sick."

"It's only a cold."

Bucky's brow furrowed. "A cold that's probably gonna get worse if you don't rest." He slipped the towel off his forehead and started to get up from the bed. "Come on," he whispered, his throat unable to keep up. "Get in."

Steve didn't move from his spot.

"Steve." Bucky insisted.

"Buck, you're not even better yet, I can't just stop."

"Yeah but I got you sick."

"You need to get back to work. You need to get better." Steve wasn't about to mention the headache that was threatening to peak through. "You can't just get up and act like you're okay buck, it doesn't work like that."

"I'm practically healed Steve. I'm _fine_."

"You still have a fever Bucky."

Bucky paused. He knew this wasn't going anywhere. And he knew Steve was right. But he always knew that Steve was sick and Steve couldn't take care of himself AND Bucky.

He slid off the bed, trying not to stumble. "Get in bed, Steve. We both know you're going to get even more worse than me if you keep this up."

Steve locked eyes with Bucky, who still looked absolutely exhausted. He knew Bucky wasn't at his best yet, and he knew that he himself could last maybe another day or so before the sickness actually took its toll on his energy.

"Buck no. I'm still okay. You still ne-"

"Damn it Steve!" Bucky snapped suddenly. "It's my fault that you're sick! The least I can do is give you the bed so you can get better, you know how badly you handle sickness Steve, you can't take care of two people at the same time!"

"Bucky stop!" Steve nearly shouted. "You act like I can't handle myself on my own. I think I'm perfectly capable of handling-"

"Steve-" he muttered. "You can't even hold a job. I have to help with your rent."

"And that's exactly why you need to get better." Steve replied, the argument eating at his energy. He knew Bucky was exhausted too. He could see him starting to slump. "Bucky please. For the sake of both of us, get better."

Bucky stared at Steve, unmoving.

"I can handle everything until you get better."

Bucky looked unconvinced for a moment, before he finally admitted defeat. He would trust Steve.

"If you feel off-" he started, sitting on the bed.

"I'll tell you, I know." Steve said with a reply, proud of the fact that he had won an argument with Bucky. He knew that Bucky was just worried about him. Sometimes it over looked his actions. That was fine thought. Steve didn't know where he would be if Bucky didn't worry about him.

Probably dead actually.

Steve finally got Bucky in bed after some coaxing, and Bucky fell asleep right away, tired from the events that happened moments ago.

Steve collapsed back in the chair.

He could do this.

Bucky woke up to a snoring Steve and a bowl of soup and a full glass of water next to him. He wasn't going to lie, all this sleep was helping him get better. His eyebrows furrowed at the thought of this sickness he had. He cursed himself for putting it off to the point of collapse. His rash decisions had gotten Steve sick while tending to him. And he couldn't even shut his mouth. That was a horrible thing he said, he wasn't even thinking straight.

Bucky shook his head, he couldn't be thinking nag stove thoughts. Steve wasn't one to hold a grudge, Bucky would just apologize when Steve woke up.

Bucky picked up the bowl of soup. He didn't have much of an appetite but he knew that it would help him recover faster.

If he could hold it in.

Bucky could only get about 10 spoonfuls before his stomach started to hurt. Okay, that was enough for now. He took a breath before drinking half the glass of water.

It was around that time Steve started to wake up, groaning in his seat. Bucky felt bad for taking his bed.

"Morning." Bucky rasped out, earning a smile from Steve.

"How're you feeling?"

"Better. I already ate."

Steve looked at the bowl of soup and smiled. "Good."

"You should eat something."

Steve got up from the chair and went over to the kitchen retuning with a piece of bread and some water.

"Do you need any medicine?"

Bucky smoothed out the blankets and shook his head. "I'm okay for now."

The two of them spent the morning talking, Bucky feeling much much better. His head wasn't hurting anymore but his stomach still was. But at this rate he would be better in no time.

The next morning Bucky woke up to more coughing. He turned to the chair to see Steve curled up in a ball. Bucky felt exceptionally better so he decided on his own that Steve was now too sick to take care of anyone.

He slipped out of bed, and picked Steve up, rousing him from his sleep.

"Wha- Bucky?"

Bucky placed Steve on his bed and smirked. "Relax. I'm better now. You did alright Rogers."

Steve was tensed, but then he visibly relaxed, letting out a small cough.

"Good. Now go away so I can sleep."

Bucky snorted a laugh and left the room.

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 **A/N: And that's it! Hope you enjoyed it, tell me what you thought about it. Hope the two of them weren't _too_ out of character.**


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